Virgil van Dijk points the blame as Liverpool suffer agonising Bournemouth defeat

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Virgil van Dijk has explained that he felt he was blocked during the process of Bournemouth's last-minute winner over Liverpool on Saturday evening. The defending Premier League champions showed resilience at the Vitality Stadium during the encounter, but ultimately return to Merseyside with nothing to show for their efforts.

Evanilson opened the scoring for the hosts 26 minutes into play, before Alex Jimenez doubled the lead moments later. Van Dijk pulled one back for the Reds on the stroke of half-time, ensuring the lead didn't get away from the visiting side.

A well-worked free-kick then saw Dominik Szoboszlai level matters from range with 10 minutes to play, as Liverpool pushed on for a late winner. However, it was the Cherries who walked away with all three points thanks to Amine Adli's goal with the last kick of the game.

It was a case of last-chance saloon as James Hill launched the ball into a crowded Liverpool box with a long throw, Adli flicking it on before Marcos Senesi saw his attempt blocked. The ball then spilled to Adli, who powered it home from a tight angle with his left foot, before wheeling off in celebration.

As Sky Sports camera's captured the jubilation from the team and home fans inside the ground, Van Dijk was spotted arguing with referee Michael Salisbury as he felt he was fouled in the build-up. Officials disregarded Van Dijk's opinion as the goal stood and the full-time whistle was blown.

And speaking to the media in the aftermath of the game, Van Dijk had a chance to vent his frustration further. He said: "What I felt on that pitch was that I was clearly blocked, but obviously the ref and the VAR don't give it. That's something we then have to accept."

Elsewhere, the Liverpool captain also shared his disappointment with the result, having looked like his team were set to stage a remarkable comeback for their efforts. He added: "Very disappointed.

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"Last minute of the game, very tough to take. But like you said, we worked very hard second-half especially to get back in the game and obviously at times we were open as well, obviously on the counter because we're trying to push for the winner. To concede that late is very disappointing."

Arne Slot , meanwhile, criticised the officials' decision regarding extra time. He said: "This game shouldn't have had four minutes of extra time. There was one free kick that already took two or three minutes, there were VAR moments, there were substitutions.

"That is why I said to them in extra time that four minutes wasn't enough. They scored in extra time."

Elsewhere, Joe Gomez sparked fresh injury concerns as he was subbed off in the first-half. The centre-half was deployed as Van Dijk's partner for the game, but a clash with Alisson in the build-up to the first goal forced him to make way for Wataru Endo.

Milos Kerkez was also brought off at half-time for Andy Robertson to limit strain on the Hungarian's legs. Up next for Liverpool is a Champions League clash with Qarabag on Wednesday evening, which could affect the club's ability to automatically qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.

Currently fourth in the standings with 15 points, teams all the way down to 15th could overlap them depending on results.

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